Biblical Hebrew Forum

[MarianneLuban AT aol.com]

In a message dated 12/22/2004 5:45:37 AM Pacific Standard Time, 
leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il writes:


> 
> All very intersting, but my question was, why the translators took such a
> general term as "cow" and translated it as the more narrow "heifer". Did
> they have any reason to think that this particular cow was special in any
> way, besides its color?

It seems to me that the red cow was something left over from the pagan 
religion of the Canaanites.  I recall that a certain goddess was called "the 
red cow 
of Baal", perhaps Baalath, herself,  but I would have to check that.  
Unfortunately, I am leaving on vacation today and don't have much time-- but 
I 
remember thinking of the "red heifer" when I read this about the goddess.  
These 
deities, BTW, were also worshipped in the north of Egypt.  Anyway, the color 
of 
the cow seems to have had some significance.